The ITMEMS symposia provide an opportunity for coral reef managers to share experiences and lessons learned, through multi-disciplinary consideration of management-related case studies and to identify gaps and priorities for future action to manage tropical marine ecosystems.

ReefBase hosts digital copies of the various papers presented at the 2nd ITMEMS, and this page provides access to them. You may search by author, words in the title, keywords, or by theme.

Since 1999 a partnership of eastern African agencies with an interest in marine conservation has been developing a strategic plan for large scale conservation approaches in the region. The larger scale thinking is necessary to address the broader biological and associated systems as well as the social, economic and policy factors that are essential to long-term success. The area of focus covers more than 300,000 square miles stretching from southern Somalia to north-eastern South Africa. The region supports a great diversity of plant and animal life, including some of the Indian Ocean's most diverse coral reefs, mangrove forests, sand dunes, seagrass beds, globally significant marine and coastal habitats and high species diversity. The biodiversity in this region faces many threats and challenges. Most of the threats are linked to resource use and the manner in which extraction is carried out. Over-utilization of resources is common and equally important are the inappropriate methods of fisheries such trawling, and illegal use of dynamite and small-meshed nets. Conversion of habitats through the introduction of new technologies, such as seaweed farming and aquaculture, constitutes another category of threats. Multiple stakeholders participated in a transparent and participatory process that established 21 priority seascapes as targets for conservation. The process involved biological & socio-economic assessment, development of a long-term vision; socio-economic root causes analysis for biodiversity loss and the design of a conservation action plan. The large-scale conservation strategy outlines a series of conservation targets that need to be undertaken to achieve the long-term conservation goal. The targets are elaborated by a number of actions and indicators that provide guidance of the policy, project and community level interactions.

The development of the commercial fishing industry in Tobago is running ahead of the State’s efforts to put in place the necessary physical infrastructure and support services that must complement private sector entrepreneurship and investment if the industry is to continue to survive and prosper. The industry’s stakeholders have been providing the best they could for themselves while they await the implementation of governments plans to provide them with beach facilities and accesses. They have erected small buildings as close as possible to the sea where their boats are moored at the historic landing sites around the island’s coast. Recently, due to tourism related developments; both private tourism developers and the state are contesting the use of many of these sites utilized by fisherfolk, reef-tour operators and other stakeholders operating in the Buccoo Reef Marine Park area.
Fisherfolk and other stakeholders are being asked to move or are being moved to make way for the new tertiary industry. The fisherfolk believes that this is both unfair and unjust. Fisherfolk claim that they want to cooperate, co-exist and share the waterfront with the newcomers as they have been doing all along. They now call for urgent government intervention (both at the local and national levels) to provide security of tenure for their beach sheds until the promised public facilities are built and made available to them. They also contend that as part of the right to continue to occupy the sections of the beaches (seafrontage), that they must also have the right of free public access to these sites. The fisherfolk express their confidence that the government can solve this conflict, and that it may find The Three Chains (Tobago) Act very useful in this exercise. The following is a brief account of the background to the use of Pigeon Point and the present impasse re access to Wind Hole, Pigeon Point.

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System is a global asset recognized under the World Heritage Convention of UNESCO. It provides income and employment to over one million people living in coastal areas. Both extractive and non-extractive uses have resulted in a variety of threats to the health of the reef system, and as a result, numerous conservation initiatives are being conducted in an effort to protect this world-class resource. Most initiatives are characterized by site-specific conservation through MPAs and with little or no regard for ecological processes and connectivity with watersheds. Most MPAs were established without broad stakeholder consultation and are having major difficulties consolidating political support for continuous conservation activities. A new approach called ecoregional planning is being developed in the region and is yet to be tested. The region suffers from serious deficiencies in human, institutional and financial capacity. Donor agencies active in the region have given little importance to the need to coordinate and optimize investments. Future conservation efforts in the region will require structured investments in human resources and in the consolidation of stakeholder support for ongoing conservation efforts. Specific attention will have to be paid to the need for conservation within the context of ICZM, and not as an isolated site-specific action that ignores cross-sectoral and transboundary demands.

Chinchorro Banc is a Mexican biosphere reserve decreed July 16th 1996, with an extension of 144,360 Ha. It is a false atoll located off shore south State of Quintana Roo, Mexico, near the border with Belize.
The Reserve is the marine protected area with the greatest representation of coral reefs in Mexico, both in quantity an quality, and has been nominated as a special site by the National Commission of Biodiversity, The MBRS, WWF, TNC and is in the process to be included as a World Heritage Site, MAB and RAMSAR marine protected area.
The case study describes the process followed since the appointment of a basic staff of five people by the Federal government in September 1998, until the official publication of the management plan in September 2000. The main achievements were the full agreement of all the stakeholders in banning the use of all types of fishing nets, the use of “Hookah” type air compressors and SCUBA gear for fishing, and even more important, the establishment of three “No take” zones defined as “core zones”, with a total area of 4,587.5 Ha.
The establishment of a collegiate “Technical Advisory Committee” with the full representation of all the sectors with any interest on the Reserve, such as fishers, tourist industry, research and education institutions, NGO´s and local and regional government was the key to develop a responsive and successful management plan.

The Representative Areas Program (RAP) aims to increase the protection of the biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP), an area of over 345,000 km2. The RAP involves a rezoning of the entire GBRMP and the protection of ‘representative’ examples of the range of habitats and communities within the Marine Park in a network of no-take areas that prohibit extractive uses.
This summary outlines a four key aspects of RAP and the lessons learned that might be of interest to other MPA managers/ planners operating at an ecosystem scale (ie 1000s of km2).